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Quantic Dream: Heavy Rain "Can Only Be Done On The PS3"

Sucker Punch just got finished explaining how the PlayStation 3 was crucial to the development process, and now, Heavy Rain director David Cage has something similar to say.

According to NowGamer, Cage replied in the negative when asked if he thought his new project would be possible on the Xbox 360. Many 360 supporters have always said their machine of choice can do whatever the PS3 can do, but most developers clearly aren't inclined to agree with that theory. Said Cage:

"I think this game can only be done on Playstation 3. We used all the SPUs. I think to do the visuals, and all the stuff we’re doing would be too difficult [on the 360]. There are amazing physics there, and stuff with crowds that you just couldn’t really get."

Now, the avid gamer will notice that PS3-exclusive titles have been the most technically proficient over the past year or so (in comparison to most all multiplatform games), which is why so many believe in the PS3's power and potential. And the more we hear developers speaking out about the system, the more we start to wonder...just how far can designers push this thing? And how good will something like Heavy Rain look? Quantic Dream did Indigo Prophecy for the Xbox last generation; why only use the PS3 for Heavy Rain this generation? There must be a logical reason, correct?

Comments (36 posts)

This seems to be a reoccurring theme with developers lately..first infamous, now "chubby" rain? ;D and I know that there have been others before that have said this. I'm sure we'll hear the same thing from the God of War and Uncharted 2 camps too sometime. Does this mean that developers are getting more ambitious in their projects and need the PS3 Graphical power? Or is the Xbox really at it's peak?

I was trying to think of a way to say that without everyone thinking I was flaming..this is the best I could come up with..Last edited by CH1N00K on 5/15/2009 11:08:53 AM

did'nt sony put up some bucks to help with development? i'm sure i read that somewhere,anyways ps3 exclusive games are the better nowaday imo,wish sony had given capcom some cash,then RE5 wouldn't be half an hour long!Heavy rain looks like a proper intelligent,grown up game,cant wait.

''Quantic Dream did Indigo Prophecy for the Xbox last generation; why only use the PS3 for Heavy Rain this generation?''Because:1)Sony is publishing this game & its a PS3 1st party tittle2)Indigo Prophecy was published by Atari & it was released for PS2,XBOX & PC@Ben:why do u always put some lame lines in your article?i just can't figure out.....

Instead of this veiled suggestion that Ben has a bias, why not be honest and just come out with your accusation of Bias?

In truth though Quantic Dream is doing this game on PS3 because Sony asked them to do a game for them. Sony may, or may not have paid. However that's not the point. The direct quote from David Cage of Quantic is, "I think this game can only be done on Playstation 3. We used all the SPUs. I think to do the visuals, and all the stuff we’re doing would be too difficult [on the 360]. There are amazing physics there, and stuff with crowds that you just couldn’t really get."

Cage is giving his professional opinion regarding the practicality of doing this game on another platform. Considering Quantic's previous development credentials, the developer clearly has expertise beyond the PS3. And yet they still are willing to state that they would not be able to do everything they are doing in Heavy Rain is the game were being developed on the 360. Coming back to Ben's comment a tthe end of the article. "Why only the PS3 for Heavy Rain?" I believe that David Cage gave you the technical answer, and you have intimated the business answer. Both are valid, and no suggestion of bias is required in either case.

The fact of the matter is that the developers that complain about the PS3 being too hard are mostly ex-PC developers who are used to the Microsoft development environment and have found the transition to the 360 easier than a transition to the PS3. The PS3 also requires that developers think differently because of the additional SPE core type and the unique instruction set it brings as well as the mid set that comes with tackling problems in parallel rather than sequentially. Over the last year it's become evident that game developers without an axe to grind and without a PC heavy history have been overwhelimng in their support of the PS3 and the sheer compute capability it brings. No one has said it's easier than pie to work with, but they regularly stress how much more grunt there is in the PS3. 360 is easier to develop for but has less performance, the PS3 is harder to develop for but has more performance. Ultimately in a long conso9le life cycle the third, fourth and fifth year games on PS3 will still be getting more and more each generation from the PS3 where the 360 topped out with the second generation of games on it. That is the heart of the issue and this article. It has nothing to do with personal bias. Incidentally, Ben suffers from none of the usual bias you find elsewhere in the gaming media he is generally speaking very fair to all platforms. This may be unusual in this day and age, but if you read his articles with an open mind, I think you'll enjoy yourself more.

Huu? if you don't like Ben style just don't come back...better take your time and pray that Microsoft try to convince Kojima with 200 millions dollars to make a port of MGS4 .Last edited by Oxvial on 5/15/2009 2:08:09 PM

Sab8: Don't ask ridiculous questions if you fail to understand the game industry.

Quantic is an independent publisher. They weren't told by Sony to make this game for the PS3; the team was free to make it for whichever platform they wished. They decided to only make it for the PS3, and furthermore, they decided to do it when the PS3 was barely a blip on the sales radar. ...hence, I deem my question at the end of the article valid.

Well apparently this was inevitable. We are definitely starting to see a gap between the PS3 and 360 which all people predicted before the PS3 came out. Killzone 2 started it... Infamous developers said it... Heavy Rain only possible on PS3 and so will be GOW3, GT5 and Uncharted 2.

I saw a few Heavy Rain videos and I was really impressed. I still don't know what the game is about, but still the graphics and animation look unreal. Another game to be added to the shopping list... boy am I going to be broke this year.

btw... Did anyone check the new Uncharted 2 gameplay videos.... The Graphics are AWESOME... We got a KZ2 competitor.

I think uncharted 1 has amazing graphics, close to KZ2. At first I was blown away with KZ2, but after a while it started to look normal (I guess that always happens). U2 is going to have amazing graphics, but graphics aren't everything. Sure they are important, but playability is more important. Looking forward to the next 6 months, some really great games coming out.

I can't even imagine how nice the "end-generation" titles will look for the PS3. I mean, look at the PS2. Did anyone thing they could even make a game like GoWII or FFXII on that system? Most people thought the PS2 was tapped out before that but they just kept pushing.

Maybe near the end of its life the 360 can be tapped out enough to have games like Heavy Rain, KZ2, and GT5, once developers have learned how to compress everything down enough. But it blows my mind that PS3 deveolpers are already able to push the limits this far. It looks like PS3 owners have many good years ahead.

...And I say that as a 360 owner as well. Whenever people ask me which one is better I simply tell them: "Yeah, I'm a 360 owner... but I'm a PROUD PS3 owner!"

'End Generation' games on the PS2 obviously include master pieces such as the God of War games. However let's not forget Gran Turismo 4 that managed to pull of the extremely impressive feat of letting players race around the Nürburgring, all 12.93 miles of it in glorious 480p or 1080i. First of all the game has to stream the track data as you race, secondly not all PS2s were supposed to be able to push 480p and third how many other PS2 games do you know that could push an HD image?

As impressive as God of War is, the technical feat that GT4 represents is every bit as significant.

I totally agree. While the games I mentioned did indeed push the PS2 farther than most people thought possible, GT4 is another fine example that pusheed the PS2 in ways the pther "end-generation" PS2 games did not.

But the point remains the same, by looking back at the technological feats of the last generation we can speculate as to what kinds of leaps we may get at the same point in the life of the PS3. We know that the "end-generation" of PS3 games will be WAY beyond what we have now, and what we have now is pretty damn amazing.

not that I am doubting what these developers are saying. I'm quite sure these games wouldn't work on x360. I'm just wondering if Sony asked them to maybe mention something. bc sonys PR seems to suck. I love Sony products and the ps3 is my favorite console of all time, but they just don't seem too good with words.

on the other hand, perhaps these developers simply love the ps3 as much as we all do :-D

It's gonna be a stunner, the only problem I can foresee is the game looks so engrossing that you could never have a proper demo unless it was like 3 hours long. And people are obsessed with demos these days even though most don't show off the game's potential well.

But do we really need a demo? Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of getting a hands on without having to pay for anything, but I can't see a lack of a demo hurting sales of any quality game. Afterall, there were very few PS2 games that had demos and I don't think it affected their sales at all. But then again, with the PSN around and demos being the norm for many PS3 games, not having a demo could possibly have an affect.

I'm a little nervous. He uses "I think" quite strategically there. SuckerPunch made their comment right around the time their demo came out and odd reviews started popping up on the net. That's ok with me, everything so far is positive so the comment from the SP fits. Having Cage make these comments when we don't even have a release date is kind of discomforting. I have always been one to prefer the "less talk more rock" motto.

Unfortunately, when ANY exclusive looks good, slighted fanboys just say, "Well, they didn't even TRY doing it for another platform, so how does anyone know?" Or if a multi-platform title looks better on one system than another, they say, "Well, they just did a bad port...it's not because MY machine of preference can't do it." Even if ALL multi-platform titles looked better on PS3, 360 fanboys would claim that bias and just claim their exclusives are better than what can be done on PS3.

One thing I notice, though, from most 360 fanboys is that they rarely ever claim the PS3 is underpowered compared to the 360, but that the 360 can keep up to the PS3. That is, when they're saying something less infantile than "(This PS3 exclusive) SUX!"

BTW, yes, I didn't like the first Xbox at all, but I think the 360 is a MUCH better and quite capable machine (despite some design/QC shortcomings). However, I do despise M$ for their treatment of employees (I live in Seattle, so know A LOT of them) and their monopolistic behaviors ("innovation" doesn't really count as buying out competitors because you can't compete with them on your own). I'd LOVE to play some 360-only titles, but only if someone GIVES them to me so I don't have to give any of my own money to M$. </end anti-ms rant>

i still dont understand why so many 360 owners still say ps3 sucks, i have here a couple of reasons why people claim 360 is better

1.ps3 has no games (this one hasn't been used ever since the release of resistance 2)2.online is better on 360 (the only truth to that is that you will most likely be playing with close friends because more people have a 360)